Samira Alikhanzadeh’s “Departed and Yet Here” series contains paradoxical images that embody unity and multiplicity, stillness and motion, presence and absence, time and timelessness. In one sense, the strict symmetry and balance of these works, the Pythagorean structure of the overall design (made of circular iridescent plexiglass that is arranged in rows and encloses various head shots of a young female of the 1920s, Irandokht1), should impel one toward stability and predictability. And yet, the pieces evoke a sense of exploration and engender a quiet, deep connection to temporal and spatial motion. The quantitative play of this singular image, in various partial and full views, makes for movement across space and time, as does Bernini’s “David.” Each image is one angle of the panorama––suggesting motion caught from life’s various perspectives.

The repeated images of Irandokht held in the mirrors evoke an extravagant abundance of material presence. They are designed and arranged with such elastic ease that they appear fluent and dynamic as they psychologically portray various historical niches and experiences. Viewed sequentially, or in any random order, the images are the unfolding of a life in time. These various poses, though assigning a short duration, are nevertheless the concept of extended temporality at its best. The different views of Irandokht give rise to interminable time by alluding to countless psychological regresses and extensions. The variations thus create fluidity in time and space, substantiating the life she lived and the emotions she experienced.

Through these variations, Alikhanzadeh has created evocative musical harmonies, sounds with melodies that reach deep and wide into the most pertinent of existential questions. She has arrived at a novel formula to depict motion using a single sign to lift up the central figure into a space that is real but, above all, dreamlike, wistful, and forlorn. These mirrors, each an independent unit, bespeak the poetry of passion and the effete grace of lost times and haunting memories.

More significantly, “Departed and Yet Here” is a tabula rasa, a blank slate interior and anterior to which unfolds our energies and experiences. For as the light changes and the portraits of Irandokht vanish, the faces of the observers appear on the multiple mirrors. Through this device, the outside moves inside and Irandokht becomes the bridge to our own time and spaces. We share her fate as the mirrors reflect us, integrating each viewer’s life and history with the art. The evanescence of Irandokht is the onlooker’s materialization, and we peregrinate from space to space, time to time, transmuting identity from the real into the illusory spaces of art and back. This measure of Alikhanzadeh’s poetic proclivity treats reality and illusion as a dance of unmediated images, where substance and imagination occupy the same plateau. The image of Irandokht as us and as the other is a model for the totality of Being. Is not this quality mystical? Are not the sense of the one as many and the other as “I” grist for the ultimate subjective experience?

These works give rise to the question, Are art and reality one? Perhaps not, but reality is understood through the mirror of art—the mirror of interpretation. Reflections of the real caught in this mirror make us talk. Otherwise, we have nothing to say. We arrive at the shores of meaning and existential reckoning when we see life’s reflection in a looking glass. This switch in the work of Samira between art and reality, between dream and knowledge, makes us wonder, just as Yeats claimed that Truth and knowledge are “mirror on mirror mirrored.” What Samira has shown us is not only Irandokht’s river of time on which she floated and in which she swam and drowned, but also our own journey. She, though young and youthful in all her mirrors, has nevertheless moved on in time, aged, and died––as will we.

Abbas Daneshvari, PhD, Chair, Department of Art, Professor of Art History at University of California, Los Angeles

1 The portrait of Irandokht, used by Samira Alikhanzadeh, was taken in 1937. Irandokht died in 2011 at the age of 94.

Overview and HistoryTehran is the capital of Iran and the largest city in the Middle East, with a population of fifteen million people living under the peaks of the Alborz mountain range.Although archaeological evidence places human activity around Tehran back into the years 6000BC, the city was not mentioned in any writings until much later, in the thirteenth century. It's a relatively new city by Iranian standards.But Tehran was a well-known village in the ninth century. It grew rapidly when its neighboring city, Rhages, was destroyed by Mongolian raiders. Many people fled to Tehran.In the seventeenth century Tehran became home to the rulers of the Safavid Dynasty. This is the period when the wall around the city was first constructed. Tehran became the capital of Iran in 1795 and amazingly fast growth followed over the next two hundred years.The recent history of Tehran saw construction of apartment complexes and wide avenues in place of the old Persian gardens, to the detriment of the city's cultural history.The city at present is laid out in two general parts. Northern Tehran is more cosmopolitan and expensive, southern Tehran is cheaper and gets the name "downtown."Getting ThereMehrabad airport is the original one which is currently in the process of being replaced by Imam Khomeini International Airport. The new one is farther away from the city but it now receives all the international traffic, so allow an extra hour to get there or back.TransportationTehran driving can be a wild free-for-all like some South American cities, so get ready for shared taxis, confusing bus routes and a brand new shiny metro system to make it all better. To be fair, there is a great highway system here.The metro has four lines, tickets cost 2000IR, and they have segregated cars. The women-only carriages are the last two at the end, FYI.Taxis come in two flavors, shared and private. Private taxis are more expensive but easier to manage for the visiting traveler. Tehran has a mean rush hour starting at seven AM and lasting until 8PM in its evening version. Solution? Motorcycle taxis! They cut through the traffic and any spare nerves you might have left.People and CultureMore than sixty percent of Tehranis were born outside of the city, making it as ethnically and linguistically diverse as the country itself. Tehran is the most secular and liberal city in Iran and as such it attracts students from all over the country.Things to do, RecommendationsTake the metro to the Tehran Bazaar at the stop "Panzda Gordad". There you can find anything and everything -- shoes, clothes, food, gold, machines and more. Just for the sight of it alone you should take a trip there.If you like being outside, go to Darband and drink tea in a traditional setting. Tehranis love a good picnic and there are plenty of parks to enjoy. Try Mellat park on a friday (fridays are public holidays), or maybe Park Daneshjou, Saaii or Jamshidieh.Remember to go upstairs and have a look around, always always always! The Azadi Tower should fit the bill; it was constructed to commemorate the 2500th anniversary of the Persian Empire.Tehran is also full of museums such as:the Contemporary Art Museumthe Abghine Musuem (glass works)the 19th century Golestan Royal Palace museumthe museum of carpets (!!!)Reza Abbasi Museum of extraordinary miniaturesand most stunning of all,the Crown Jewels Museum which holds the largest pink diamond in the world and many other jaw-dropping jewels.Text by Steve Smith.

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